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[3259.58 --> 3268.62] Now, if you know the history, in 586 BC, the Babylonian army, right, led by Nebuchadnezzar, marched down, come to Israel, |
[3268.92 --> 3274.58] and they destroyed Jerusalem, and they lay to waste the temple on the top of the mountain. |
[3275.52 --> 3280.88] Now, the temple is the crown jewel of Hebrew religion and society. |
[3281.88 --> 3284.96] The first temple, we call it because they did rebuild eventually, |
[3284.96 --> 3290.68] the first temple, the one built by Solomon, was magnificent and beyond compare. |
[3292.06 --> 3295.26] In fact, there's a story told in the book of Ezra, |
[3296.08 --> 3301.56] that even as the second temple was being built, 70 years later, after the exile, |
[3302.12 --> 3306.56] and people are celebrating the end of the exile and their return to the land, |
[3306.90 --> 3310.96] there are some who are old enough to have seen the first temple, |
[3310.96 --> 3313.44] and even as they're looking at the new foundations, |
[3313.86 --> 3316.22] even as they're celebrating the temple walls going up, |
[3316.30 --> 3319.22] these people who remember the old temple weep |
[3319.22 --> 3323.70] because it just paled in comparison. |
[3326.34 --> 3333.14] The point is that Asaph is probably sometime before the rebuild, |
[3333.14 --> 3337.18] and so you can picture him standing in the rubble, |
[3337.88 --> 3340.84] in the ruins of the temple, |
[3341.44 --> 3345.56] and it feels to him in that moment as he looks around, right, |
[3345.64 --> 3351.46] the dwelling place of God, the place where God resides with his people is gone, |
[3351.70 --> 3355.24] and so it feels to him like God is gone. |
[3355.24 --> 3359.56] I cried out to God for help. |
[3360.12 --> 3362.88] I cried out to God to hear me. |
[3364.00 --> 3369.78] Not only does he need help, but he doesn't feel heard in his need. |
[3370.80 --> 3371.68] Do you know that feeling? |
[3373.04 --> 3375.40] Right, where you just don't understand. |
[3375.94 --> 3377.66] You're not hearing what I'm saying. |
[3377.66 --> 3383.86] And then, Asaph does everything right. |
[3385.42 --> 3386.60] Look at verse 2. |
[3387.88 --> 3390.56] When I was in distress, I sought the Lord. |
[3391.88 --> 3395.40] At night, I stretched out untiring hands. |
[3396.56 --> 3400.50] He's in distress, he needs help, and he craves to be heard, |
[3400.82 --> 3402.04] and so he goes to God. |
[3403.44 --> 3407.24] That phrase, at night, I stretched out untiring hands, |
[3407.98 --> 3410.26] that's a posture of prayer. |
[3411.98 --> 3415.28] There's a story in Exodus 17 |
[3415.28 --> 3419.14] where the Israelites are wandering through the Sinai Peninsula, |
[3419.36 --> 3421.98] and they're being harangued by the Amalekites throughout, |
[3422.16 --> 3423.56] and there's a battle that takes place |
[3423.56 --> 3426.78] between the Israelites and the Amalekites. |
[3427.76 --> 3430.82] And Moses is standing on a ridge overlooking this battle, |
[3430.82 --> 3434.46] and as long as Moses is stretching out his hands, |
[3434.88 --> 3436.64] the Israelites are winning the battle. |
[3437.24 --> 3441.26] They're able to defeat the superior enemy that is the Amalekites. |
[3441.34 --> 3444.72] But as Moses gets tired and his hands start to fall, |
[3445.14 --> 3446.80] the Israelites are losing the battle. |
[3447.82 --> 3450.70] And so God is with them in the battle, |
[3450.80 --> 3452.60] insofar as Moses, their leader, |
[3452.72 --> 3455.60] is able to pray and hold his hands up. |
[3455.72 --> 3457.72] And so Aaron and Hur, |
[3458.16 --> 3460.58] Moses' left and right-hand men, |
[3460.94 --> 3463.68] hold up his hands for him as he gets tired. |
[3463.68 --> 3468.62] Point is, that image of praying with untiring hands, |
[3468.96 --> 3471.30] is Asaph's way of saying, |
[3471.72 --> 3473.38] God, fight my battle. |
[3476.38 --> 3479.46] Now there's also a connection in this image |
[3479.46 --> 3483.16] to the story of Job and his friends, |
[3483.84 --> 3486.00] and what his friends tell Job. |
[3486.00 --> 3488.48] Now maybe you remember the story of Job. |
[3489.08 --> 3493.18] It's a story that is told and recorded in the Bible |
[3493.18 --> 3497.06] as an attempt to try and make sense |
[3497.06 --> 3499.10] of why there is evil in the world. |
[3500.12 --> 3500.32] Right? |
[3500.38 --> 3503.60] Why bad things happen to good people. |
[3504.54 --> 3507.04] Now it's worth a look if you haven't read it before, |
[3507.42 --> 3509.84] but Job in that story has lost everything. |
[3510.62 --> 3512.68] He's had everything taken from him by the devil. |
[3512.68 --> 3512.98] Right? |
[3513.64 --> 3514.98] His possessions have been taken. |
[3515.34 --> 3516.72] His children have died. |
[3517.02 --> 3518.16] His wife, at one point, |
[3518.22 --> 3520.18] tells him to curse God and die. |
[3521.14 --> 3522.50] That's how bad it gets for him. |
[3523.58 --> 3526.02] And sitting in sackcloth and ashes, |
[3526.56 --> 3528.98] he curses the day of his birth. |
[3529.56 --> 3530.92] Says it would have been better, |
[3530.96 --> 3531.72] it would have been better |
[3531.72 --> 3534.06] if he'd not been born at all. |
[3534.76 --> 3535.40] And he says, |
[3535.40 --> 3539.02] What I feared has come upon me. |
[3539.54 --> 3541.76] What I dreaded has happened to me. |
[3542.12 --> 3544.28] I have no peace, no quietness. |
[3544.40 --> 3547.22] I have no rest, but only turmoil. |
[3548.48 --> 3549.72] Now here's the part I want you to hear. |
[3551.08 --> 3552.92] Into this circumstance, |
[3553.14 --> 3555.10] into this moment of Job's experience, |
[3555.44 --> 3556.44] his friends come. |
[3556.98 --> 3558.78] And they sit with him for a few days, |
[3558.96 --> 3560.40] and then they start to speak. |
[3560.70 --> 3561.98] And that's when it all goes to pop. |
[3561.98 --> 3563.82] They sit with him, |
[3563.86 --> 3565.68] and eventually one of them says to him, |
[3567.00 --> 3568.08] this is in Job 11, |
[3569.48 --> 3572.04] Yet, if you devote your heart to him, |
[3572.14 --> 3572.92] that is to God, |
[3573.18 --> 3575.30] if you stretch out your hands to him, |
[3575.36 --> 3576.96] there's that image, right? |
[3577.00 --> 3577.66] And what's he saying? |
[3577.74 --> 3579.24] If you really believe, |
[3579.52 --> 3581.02] if you have enough faith, |
[3581.22 --> 3582.92] if you pray hard enough, |
[3583.72 --> 3586.96] if you put away the sin that is in your hand, |
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